Happy Christmas
by nikkinor
Summary: I'll never want anything but to know I wasn't a mistake, and that maybe someone does loves me. Chapter five is here!
1. Looking for Love

A/N: Ok, just a story I wrote, it has more chapters (a lot more) and I hope you like it.

Title: Happy Christmas

Rating: PG

Pairing: None

Summary: "I'll never want anything but to know I wasn't a mistake, and that maybe someone does loves me."

Disclaimer: None of it belongs to me, even though I wish it did, it doesn't.

The sun slowly dipped under the trees and hills as I think about why I'm here.

I never thought I'd be sitting in bus on my way to meet him.

I never thought I'd meet my father at all.

My mother had always told me he was an okay guy, and that their parents didn't approve their relationship and that the pressure of it had torn them apart.

She's never really said anything bad about him, but she's never really said anything good about him either.

She never talked about him at all unless I asked, and after her just crying at any mention of him I learned not to ask.

I don't know that much about him, and I never expected to know that much about him.

I had overheard one of her conversations with one of her friends when I was younger.

About how he was the normal football jock with everything going for him, and she was the blond cheerleader that aspired to be teacher some day.

They had been the perfect couple, best friends since second grade that had slowly become girlfriend and boyfriend, the two people that everyone else wanted to be, the image of perfection.

They had wanted to get married after high school, to go to college, get good jobs, and someday have a family.

But in there senior year the mistake that was me killed there hopes and dreams.

I had been the child that neither of my parents had really wanted, but that someone had to take.

After that I knew she had lied to me, that I had split them apart not their parents.

Neither of them wanted a baby then and the decision of what to do about me had slowly drew them apart.

I always hated that I was a mistake, that my mother and father never really wanted me.

I was ten when I had heard her say that, and it hurts just as much now as it did then.

I look down at my watch and I still have an hour till this long bus ride ends and I can embark on the last part of my trip.

My mother would kill me if she knew where I was, but I know she has no idea I'm not sitting at home and watching something on the TV.

If she knew I was on a bus going to DC to see my father, I'd be grounded till I was thirty.

I look down at my watch again and it's only been one minute since I looked at it before.

I try to think of what kind of dad he is, if he's nice and kind or if he's angry and mad.

I wonder if he's the kind of dad that when your mom tells you to go to bed that he tells you if you be quiet you can stay up and watch a move with him.

I wonder if he's the kind of dad that goes out in the backyard and plays football, or sits down and plays a board game, or if he just likes to sit down and watch a movie or TV.

I wonder if he's the kind of dad that takes his daughter to a baseball game and eats hotdogs and peanuts just for the sake of going to a game.

I wonder what color his eyes are, if there blue or brown or green.

I wonder what color his hair is, if it's brown or blond or red or gray.

I wonder if he's tall or if he's short, if he's an only child or if he has lots of bothers and sisters, if he smiles a lot or if he never smiles.

Small fluffs of snowfalls from the sky and stick to my window.

I love snow, how it tastes good and you can do almost anything with it, how it covers the ground and makes everything clean and white.

I wonder if he likes snow or if he likes any of the things I like.

There are so many things I don't know about him, so many questions I want to ask him.

Once again I look down at my watch, and now I only have forty-five minutes to go.

Time sure does fly when you're talking to yourself.

I watch the trees and the bushes run by my window as the white fluffy snow falls out side on the trees and road.

It's really dark outside now and with the slow fall of snow on the windows it gives the bus an almost eerie feeling.

I hold by bag close to me as I lay my head against the cold window beside me.

My legs hurt, and I know it's the fact that I haven't moved them in over five hours and the comfort, or lack there of, of the bus seat.

I had found his address in the back one of mom's desks, it had seemed like nothing then but when the chance of my Mom, step-dad and half brothers and sister I called my family being gone long enough and a cheap bus leaving I took my chances and left, hoping he still lived there and that maybe he didn't hate me and maybe he wanted to see me.

Before this I had never really thought about him, and there was no reason to think about him.

There was no reason to think about running away to meet him, there was no reason to think about what color his eyes and hair are, there was no reason to think about what kind of dad he would be if he was around.

There was no reason to think about if he loved me or not.

I never worried about rejection from my father or him not loving me, just because of the fact that I never thought I would meet him.

This was the most frightening feeling I had ever felt, the simple fear of being rejected by someone I didn't even know and I knew that there was every chance that I would get there and find out that he absolutely hated me and never wanted to see me again.

Not knowing anything about him was the scariest feeling in the world right now.

I pull out a small piece of paper from my pocket and unfold the very creased edges to show the worn pencil written address.

This small piece of paper was the only thing I had of him.

I had memorized the address and there was really no reason for me to have it written down on paper any more, but the feeling of having it there with me in my hand to look at was much better that having every number and letter in perfect sequence embedded into my brain.

Once again I find myself looking at my watch, I was really going to have to tell Grandma thank you.

This time I found exactly twenty-five minutes and fifty-eight seconds, fifty-seven, fifty-six.

Counting back seconds really isn't that fun, and is really not what I want to do for the next twenty-five minutes.

But then again thinking about all the things that could go wrong isn't really what I want to do for the next; I look down at my watch, twenty-four minutes either.

I fold the paper back up and slide it back into my pocket, safe where no one can take it.

I had dropped it at school once back when I had just found it, and some other kid had picked it up, threatening to tare it in half. I had been so scarred that he would rip it and I would loose my only possible contact to my father I had punched him in the stomach, really hard.

I got a day of suspension and a month of being grounded, but knowing that I had that small piece of paper right now made it worth the punishment.

I can't help but look down at my watch again, twenty-two minutes to go; I thought time moved faster when you talk to yourself.

I really should be working on a report right now on how someone did something to save someone else, but that's writing and I hate writing.

I've never had a diary or a journal, not sure that there's a difference, never written a story or a good report.

I'm more of the type to just talk, tell you what's on my mind and if your not listening, then I'll tell you anyway.

That was the first of the only two things my mother had told me about his personality, that I had a motor mouth like his.

That I talked just as much as I walked every day, and that he was the exact same way.

The second was when she was mad at me one time, she told me 'You can make me mad just as easily as your father could', and every once and a while I hold pleasure in making her so mad it makes her go back a generation to show me how displeased she is with me.

I lay my head back and close my eyes, just for a minute, just long enough to resist the yawn begging my mouth to open.

Opening my eyes back up I look around the bus, there's a couple in front of me in there late twenties, a woman with three kids three rows in front of me, an older man across the isle, an elderly woman behind me, with countless others scattered around the bus.

I felt safe around the bus people, with the warm, loving mother a few rows off, the a sweet couple in front of me, and the nice older woman behind me I almost felt as safe as being at home.

But I'm sure the fact of having a pocketknife in my back pocket had nothing to do with my security, or the pepper spray in the front of my bag.

I lay my head back down closing my eyes again, this time not opening them back up, just resting for a while.

It's no surprise to me that the next thing I know someone's taping on my shoulder telling me to wake up.

When I open my eyes I find the older lady that had been sitting behind me at my side waking me up.

"Where here in DC honey," I heard her tell me, "I'm sure you want to get off this small bus."

"Thank you," I tell her as I swing my bag over my shoulder and stand up.

"No problem, I hope you find a dry way through all of this snow."

I look out my window to see how bad the snow had gotten, and I could hardly see the pavement of the parking area through all of the still falling snow.

It's only one week till Christmas and it's been snowing more and more lately.

"Wow, the snows really gotten bad," I say to no one particular.

When I turn around I find that the older lady was gone, and everyone else is to.

I walk toward the front of the bus, rapping my coat tight around me as I walk into the cold, snowy DC night.

I take a quick look at my watch, 9:34, and I know I should get a cab before it gets any later.

Walking away from the bus I make my way to the front of the bus station, quickly finding a cab to take me the last few miles on my long trip.

"Where to?" the cab driver asks me as we pull out of the bus station.

"Walnut Grove Rd." I answer him; slightly more interested in the snow falling out side my window.

"Walnut Grove, a lot of FBI agents and stuff live down that way. NSA, CIA, NCIS, all that kind of stuff," he informs me.

"NCIS, what's that stand for?" I ask him, curious as to what the answer will be.

"Naval Criminal Investigative Service, the Navy's cops that investigate murders and stuff," he answers as he turns at various roads.

The houses we were passing by all had lights, some had glowing snow men and reindeer, one had a giant blow-up Santa sitting in the middle of there yard.

Mom had never liked lights and things like that so we never had anything like the houses around here do, we would only have a Christmas tree and small decorations in the living room.

"Here we are, Walnut Grove Rd.," the driver said as he pulled into the street I was looking for.

"I need 138," I said as he drove down the street.

"There, 138 Walnut Grove Rd.," he said as he stopped the cab in front of small house with a few lights and decorations.

"Thank you," I say as I get out of the cab and pay the man for the ride.

It was hard to make myself walk the few feet to the front of the house, yet strangely easy.

I've changed my mind, ringing the doorbell to his house is the scariest thing I've ever had to do, and it's very hard to bring my hand from my side to push the glowing button.

As soon as I ring that bell twice I'm almost ready to run, run and hind from what ever might be behind that door.

I can hear foot steps only a few seconds later as they come closer to the door.

As I hear the locks being undone and the doorknob being turned I think I forget to breath, my heart stops beating, and I can't move a muscle.

The second I can see his face as he opens the door all the way open, something inside me just knows it him, something inside me screams this is him and somewhere inside I know I never want to leave.

In my gut I just know he'll answer this question with a yes, and I know the second he does I'll never want anything but knowing that I wasn't a mistake, and that maybe someone does love me.

A/N: Ok, guess who's kid it is, and please review!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!


	2. Found Love

A/N: Ok, first WOW, all you reviewers ROCK!! I came home Sunday night thinking I would be lucky to have like two reviews, to find ten of them was so totally cool. All of you guys who reviewed, you know who you are, really you do rock, I have been running around the place telling everyone 'I have ten reviews' and have just been like I'm on a sugar high since I read all of your reviews. Second, I would have posted this sooner if I hadn't been soooo busy. I got to go see all these lights on my church's short bus (that is a fun short bus) and got a ton of inspiration from feeling all Christmassy. Hopefully the next chapter wont take so long (even though I haven't even started it). So don't stop, keep reviewing, and hey if you want to you can give me ideas cause I'll use them, I need them. Lots of love, nikki.

"Hello," he answered as he looked at me standing at his doorstep.

"Hi," I know I must look nervous and scared, I can hardly make my mouth say the things it needs to, "Are you Anthony DiNozzo?" I ask him, my voice shaking as I say his name.

"Yes, what can I help you with?" he says and I can tell he's a little nervous from my shaky voice.

"Um, my name is April Michelle DiNozzo, and well I'm your daughter." I say and I can see his face change from happy, not a care in the world to confusion and being just as nervous as I am.

"Ok," is all he says and don't know what to do next.

I don't know if I'm suppose to start crying and give him a hug and make it a picture perfect moment, or if I'm just suppose to stand here and wait for him to do something, or if I should just pinch myself now and wake up from this dream I must be having.

So I just be honest and tell him what's on my mind, "It's kind of cold out here, and it's snowing and stuff."

"Yeah, come on in," he says as he moves to the side of the door and lets me in.

I walk into the warmth of the small house slowly; taking in everything I see and hear.

"So," I hear him say as he closes the door and turns to me, "Where's your mom at?" he asks me.

I don't really want to tell him the truth, knowing he might just send me back home if he knows I ran away, "In-laws. Her, my step-dad, two step-brothers, and step-sister all went to New York for Christmas."

"Does she know where you are?"

"Yeah," that part was biggest lie I had ever told, she had no idea where I was and as long as I followed the schedule I had laid out she would never know where I had been.

"How'd you get down here then?" I guess he was trying to start a conversation, but was just as nervous as I was.

"Bus, and a cab." not being able to talk was an understatement, I could hardly move my mouth and stand, let alone do the two at the same time.

"So how old are you now, thirteen?"

I hated answering questions about my age, people always found it strange that my mother was little more than twice my age.

"Fourteen, but only since April 24," I tried to sound as young as I could, hoping that in some way in his eye's he could see me as his daughter.

"Yeah, I remember your birthday because your mother was insistent on naming you after the month you were born in," A small smile appeared on his face, "I remember asking her if you were born in February or March if she would actually name you that, her answer was 'I have a one out of twelve chance of getting the name I want, and I bet you twenty bucks I'll have her in April, if I have to have some kind of surgery done...'"

"My daughter will be born in April." I say with him as we both laugh at the story my mother had told me.

The smile that had once been small and just an after thought was now big and spread across half his face, I had definitely got my smile from him.

"The day you were born I lost twenty dollars off that bet." he looked down at me, the few minutes he had took to tell that story had brought us together, but those moments were over and we both found nothing to keep the same laughing and happy conversation to stay.

The silence was uncomfortable and I could tell he was very nervous as I stood there in front of him.

"How's your mother doing?" I heard him ask me, and the thought of just talking about my mother was just as bad as not talking at all.

"Good, married a doctor with a good job, had some "real" kids, and now she works as a third grade teacher." I hated to refer to my stepsiblings as her "real" children, but they are, the children she wanted, the ones she treats as her own flesh and blood.

"A doctor thought she was more of a computer geek type."

"Guess not, she married some guy she knew from high school, Kevin Powers." I saw a little jealousy flash through his face as I said Powers.

"She married Kevin Powers, the math teacher's son." the second I heard him say 'the math teacher's son' I knew just how "Grandma" had helped mom get a good teaching job.

We were both laughing again, I liked it when we were laughing, everything felt ok and there wasn't a strange silence between us. But as are laughter fades the strange silence comes back.

I finally take the time to look at him; he has thick, brown hair, and green eyes, both I had gotten from him. He looked strong, like he worked out a lot, he was tall, at least 6'2'', that had been passed down to me to, my mom was only 5'6" and I was 5'7" so I had guessed he would be tall.

I look around his house, most of its pretty open the living room off to my left, the kitchen extending off of the living room, and the dinning room connected to the kitchen diagonal to the living room. There was a hallway between the living room and kitchen leading to what looked like the bedrooms.

"Are you hungry?" I hear him ask as finish my look around him home.

"Not really, I ate at, well at two," I answered his question, I didn't want him to have to fix me something, but I was really hungry.

"I'll take that as a yes." he said as he walked into the kitchen. I didn't really know what to do next, so I just followed him into the kitchen, sitting on a stool by the counter.

He opened his refrigerator, "Well, I have...um...cheese...um..." he kneeled down and started to dig through the take-out boxes filling the inside of the refrigerator. I hear him mumble, "What is that", and I'm slowly losing my appetite. He stands back up and opens the freezer door, "Here we go, pizza, everybody loves pizza." he said as he held up a frozen pizza box.

"Pizza! I love pizza," I say as he shows me the box, and after the outburst I want to suck all my words back up and make it sound more behaved.

"Either they don't feed you or you really like pizza," he says as he puts it on a cookie sheet and puts it the oven.

"Well," I try to sound behaved this time, "Mom is on this whole eat healthy with no meat thing, so I haven't eaten meat or pizza in about three months."

"Healthy eating, sounds like Kate." When he says that I get really curious about who Kate is.

"Who's Kate?"

"Oh, I work with her. She's really into healthy food and eating good."

"So, what do you do for a living?" I ask him; curious to know if he's with one of the agencies the cab driver had talked about.

"NCIS, its Naval..." I stopped him in the middle of his sentence.

"...Criminal Investigative Service," I could tell it was different for someone to know what NCIS stood for.

"How'd you know that?" he asked me as he pulled up a stool on the other side of the counter.

"Cab driver told me, he said a lot of FBI, CIA and stuff live down in this area, when he mentioned NCIS I asked him what it stood for." I answered.

"Smart cab driver, most people don't have any idea what NCIS is or what we do."

"Navy cops that investigate murders." I say, remembering what the cab driver had said.

"More cab info?"

"Yeah, so do you just go around finding dead bodies and finding who killed them?"

"Close enough, but we just do Navy personnel murders."

"So Kate goes and helps you find murders?"

"Yep, her and Gibbs, my boss, and McGee, the newbie. Then we have Abby in the lab running finger prints and blood samples, and then Ducky does autopsy."

I tried to remember all their names, Kate, Gibbs, McGee, Abby, and Ducky. "Are you working on any cases right now?"

"No, if we were Gibbs would make us work all night until we found the murder."

"Tough boss?"

"Ha, he's worse than tough, try hard as a rock."

As he finished his sentence, the buzzer for the oven started to ring. He stood up and took the pizza from the oven, setting it down on the counter in front of me. He cut the pizza and took out some plates and drinks.

"Looks good," I say as he sets the plates on the counter.

"Hope it is, I haven't eaten since lunch either." he says as he cuts the pizza into eight slices.

I take a large slice and put it on my plate, smelling the hot meat and cheese "It sure does smells good."

"It does." he says as he also takes a large slice of the pizza.

I take a bite of the pizza; despite the hot that burned my tongue it tasted better than anything I had ever had. "It tastes just as good as it smells."

Talking was at a minimal as we ate, I was hungry and could tell he was to. The only things that really came up in are light conversation was if I was good in school or if I was into any sports. As we did occasionally talk it was a nice feeling, not pressured or uncomfortable, just questions asked back and forth to get to know each other better.

As we finished off the last of the pizza I couldn't help but yawn. The time had gone by fast, when we had started talking it was only around ten, but now it was after twelve and I was getting more and more sleepy as it grew later and later.

"You look sleepy, I guess we should get to bed soon." he said as he saw me yawn again.

"Really," I yawned again, "I'm not that sleep at all," yeah that was a lie, but I really didn't want the nice feeling I had around him to disappear.

"Yeah, you don't look at all tired." he said sarcastically. "Now really, you need to get some sleep. I have work for two more days till I get off for Christmas, and I'm going to have to take you with me."

"You can leave me here by myself," I say as I hop off of the stool and walk over to the door to get my bag.

"Yeah, I could leave you here, but I don't know what I'd come home to. I really don't know what you would do if I wasn't here to stop you from burning down the house, I can hear it now 'Were really sorry Mr. DiNozzo, but your house was burned down today.'"

"Guess I'll get to meet all the people you work with then?" I ask, the slightest hint of mischief in my voice.

"No jokes, unless it's Kate. No freaking anyone out, unless it's McGee. And don't touch Gibbs' coffee."

"So," I say as I follow him to the guest bedroom, "Lots of jokes, freak people out, and spill Gibbs' coffee."

"Right." he says as he opens the door to the room and flips the light on.

"Nice room," I say as I walk in and set my bag down on the floor.

"Your grandmother did it, she has this thing about decorating my house."

"Really, it's really nice." I say, sitting down on the bed and bouncing on it a few times.

"I guess I'll see you in the morning then." he says from the door.

"Yeah, I guess so," I say as I take my pajamas out of my bag.

"Well, good night."

"Good night," I say as he leaves the room and shuts the door.

It only takes me a minute to change, and before long I'm in the bed realizing how tired I am.

I lay there for a minute, just thinking about the day. It had been long, but one of the best of my life. For the first time in my life I had felt at home.

For the first time I wasn't a mistake, I was a daughter, I was _his _daughter.

For the first time in my entire life I was loved.

A/N: Please review, pretty pretty please!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!


	3. Silence

A/N: I'm so very sorry that this chapter is so short, I've been really sick all week long and haven't been able to work on this till late last night. If I can I'll post another short chapter some time during the week, but I should have a full chapter next week.

Were in the car, on our way to the NCIS building. We haven't really talked all morning with the exception of the wake-up call at six. I hated the silence that lingered between us, the cold sound of nothing in the air around us. I longed for the fun natured, happy conversation we had had the night before.

"Tony?" I had called him Tony all last night; dad just didn't seem to fit him.

"Yeah?" he asked, keeping his eyes on the road.

"Can we listen to some music or something?" I really didn't like the silence and music would help.

"Sure," he said as he flipped the radio on to a station playing Christmas music.

The soft music didn't help the silence, as much as I'd hoped it would, but was better than nothing at all.

I look out my window, the snow just starting to fall, listening to 'I'm dreaming of a white Christmas' as we drive.

I always seemed to be looking out windows, just watching the scenery go by. I knew I shouldn't have gone to bed last night; everything would have been fine if we had just kept talking all night long.

"Where here," I here him tell me and it pulls me out of my thoughts and back into the real world and I nod in acknowledgement of his words as I get out of the car.

"Is NCIS ready to fight a war with there canons?" I ask as we walk by the large canons in front of the building.

"To be honest, I have no idea what the canons are for." he says as we walk through the doors leading into the main lobby of the building.

"Tony," I here a voice from behind us call out as we walked farther into the lobby "She'll need a pass."

I turn to see a security guard walk up to us and hand me a pass clearly marked 'visitor'.

"Thank you," I say as I clip the pass to my sweater.

"And Tony, Abby has been looking for you." the guard said just as we walked onto the elevator.

"Abby," I try to remember what he had told me she did, "The girl in the lab that does fingerprints and runs blood tests, right?"

"Yep." he answered simply as he pressed the button to the second floor.

A/N: Please review!!!!!!!!!!!!!!


	4. Why does everyone think I'm babysitting?

A/N: I am so sorry for this chapter being so late, I had no time to wrote over Christmas and right after that I went to a concert TN and had no time to write, so I'm very sorry for being so late. Also I didn't really want to just leave Cold November alone so I'll be updating it once every two weeks and updating this one every two weeks also (the two on different weeks).

Title: Why does everyone think I'm babysitting?

Summary: "I guess I'm off the hook, for now."

Rating: PG

Disclaimer: All that stuff in the first chapter.

the-Bookworm-Princess- I'm felling much better.

Charmed-angel4- Again, I'm felling much better, always appreciate your reviews.

Lynne- Those cyber hugs made me feel so much better.

Ravynsword- Tony gets a POV later in the story, and I've planed it to be a very good chapter. And feeling much better.

Thank you, the cheeky melly, angeleyes, and Christieanne-Anna for your wonderful reviews.

"Abby!" Tony yelled into the almost empty lab, "Abby, where are you?"

I could see he looked a little worried, "Abby, are you in here?"

"I'm right here Tony," called who I assumed to be Abby, from the far end of the lab as she turned around to face him.

"Mike told me you were looking for me," he said.

"Yeah," she said as she walked up to Tony, "McGee told me what you did to him Friday."

"Abbs, come on. It was funny, he'll get over it."

"Tony, you embarrassed him in front of the whole building," she said angrily and I could tell Tony was slightly scared of her as she raised her voice.

"Abby, I was just having fun, he knows that."

She just stared at him for a minute, then she saw me "Tony, didn't Gibbs get mad at you before for babysitting at work?" She walked to her computer and clicked a few buttons, leaving the previous conversation behind, "Cause I've already made a bet with Ducky that you would never do it again after what Gibbs did to you before." she looked up and paused for a second and looked at me for a moment, "Who is your friend?"

"Well, Abby," I could tell it was going to be a little awkward for him to tell his co-workers about me. "She's my," he stopped, like he was thinking something through, "old girlfriend's parent's grandchild."

Abby looked a little confound, so I gave her the simple version, "April, his daughter."

She looked at me for a minute, just staring at my face, dumbfounded. For a while I wasn't sure if she was thinking or if she was in shock.

"You have Tony's eyes and mouth. I didn't even know you had a kid, Tony."

I was glad that in a way she seemed to except me.

"I don't really tell a lot of people about her."

"Oh, well I guess I should let you get up to the bullpen then."

"Ok, see you later Abbs."

"Bye." she said as we walked out of the lab and back into the hallway.

As we walked to the elevator I ask him, "What did you do to McGee?"

"Well, you see he writes poetry and stuff so I found one of his poems and read it to office."

"Angry girlfriend, right?"

"Yeah." he answered simply.

"Aftershock, the best and worst part of the prank."

"Like what would be the after shock of this," he said as he pushed my shoulder and makes me lose my balance for a minute.

"The aftershock to that would be war." I say as I push him the same way he pushed me.

We did that for a while till the doors to the elevator opened. But sadly neither of us had seen the doors open and he pushed me a little to hard and I ended up falling out of the elevator into the man waiting for the elevator and both of us fell to the ground.

"I am so sorry," I said as I stood up and helped him up, "Are you ok?"

"Yeah, I'm ok," he said as he straitened his jacket.

"McGee, are you ok?" Tony asked as he walked off the elevator.

"Yeah Tony," he turned to look at me, "Are you ok ma'am?"

I couldn't help but smile at him calling me ma'am, "Yes, I'm fine."

"Well, sorry about that probie."

"It's ok," he said as he picked up the folder he had been carrying, "No harm done."

"Come on April, I don't want to be late." Tony called as he started to walk to a set of cubicles.

"Ok," I said as I cot up with him, leaving a very flustered McGee behind.

The main office area was full of people, some on their computers and others just walking into the office and filing reports. It was only seven thirty and the entire building seemed to be in full work mode.

We walked past a set of stairs leading to an upper level, with larger offices and a room labeled M.T.A.C. Before I knew it, Tony was sitting at his desk starting his computer up.

I sat down on the floor beside a large filing cabinet behind his desk, looking around the area for a few minutes. It didn't look like anyone else from his team was at work yet, just Abby and McGee.

I opened one of the filing cabinets, skimming over some of the more salient names on the labels, Lieutenant Singer, Commander Trapp, Lieutenant Commander Voss. There were way to many titles in the hierarchy of the Navy.

"Hey Kate," I hear him call out and my head immediately look up to identify his colleague.

"Good morning Tony," Kate said as she sat down at her computer. "You do know you have a girl looking though your case files?"

"I do," he looks down at my, "don't get them out of order, ok."

"Ok," was my curt reply.

"What are you doing, babysitting at work again?" she asked him with a smile.

"No, and why does everyone think that I'm babysitting?"

"It's a logical deduction captain," I answer, trying very hard to repress the smile that curls at the corners of my mouth.

"What did you do, pick some kid up at the Star Trek convention?" Kate asked, I could tell she was very amused by the whole situation, at the moment.

"I didn't pick her up at a Star Trek convention," he turned and looked at me again, "I didn't know you liked Star Trek."

"Who doesn't?"

He thought about something for a moment, "You have a point."

"So," Kate pulled both of are attentions back to her, "If your not babysitting, who is she?"

I could see the same kind of awkwardness in his eyes like before, but this time it seemed to be a little easier.

"Well...you see...she's my...um...well...daughter."

She stared at Tony first, then me, then back at Tony, then back to me, and then down at her desk. When Kate looked up from her desk and back stared at me and Tony again she seemed a little less shocked, "I had no idea you had a kid."

"'Do you have a kid' didn't really come up in conversation I guess," he said with a smile.

The second everyone had gotten quiet an older man walked between the two desks, a cup of coffee in his hand.

He stopped for a moment, contemplating something, "Didn't I tell you to stop babysitting your girlfriend's little sisters at work." it was more of a statement then a question.

"I'm not babysitting, boss." His boss, should have guessed from the coffee.

He walked over to Tony's desk, stopping right in front of it, "Then I'd love to know why there's a fourteen year old girl sitting on the floor by your desk?" he was good at ages, most people would have said thirteen

"Well Gibbs, she's my daughter, you see she came by last night and...." he was cut off by his boss' voice.

He looked down at me, "You behave and I don't care."

I nod my head in compliance; this guy was definitely someone I wasn't going to mess with.

"Good," he says as he walks to his desk and sets his coffee down, "Now get to work."

Kate and Tony got to work as fast as they could; they seemed to hold high esteem for Gibbs.

"McGee!" the outburst from Gibbs brought my attention back up from the files.

"Yes boss?" he asked as he sat down, obviously nervous at his boss' tone.

"Where have you been?"

"Down in Abby's lab, I was..."

"Be on time tomorrow," he said as he stood up.

As he walked away from the area of desks Tony looked to see him press the elevator's button, "Where you going boss?"

"Meeting, I want to see work done when I get back." Gibbs said as he boarded the elevator.

I closed the filing cabinet, relaxing a little knowing I had met all of his teammates. I really needed to stand, when I was on the floor my legs were under me and now one of them was asleep. I stand and stretch my leg out some, watching what the three agents were doing. McGee was sitting at his desk, intently doing paper work; Tony was opening up some game in the Internet; and Kate was reading some file.

I walk between the two rows of desks, looking around at the busy work of the NCIS agents. I walk in front of McGee's desk; I don't think he even knew I was there. I walk in a circle for a minute, taking in the full layout of the building, the many desks and a hallway leading off to the side of the main area.

As I walk past Gibbs' desk I hear something fall behind me, I freeze as three sets of eyes immediately fix on me. I turn around slowly, knowing I most have done something really bad. I grimace at the sight in front of me, a full cup of coffee spilt onto the floor.

"Oops," was the first thing to come out of my mouth.

Kate and Tony seemed to jump up as I said that, realization of what had happened becoming clear.

"I'll get the coffee, you guys have clean up." Kate said as she pulled her coat and purse off the back of her chair, almost running to the elevator.

Tony jumped up, pulling a roll of paper towels from his desk and bringing them over to where the coffee had spilled.

The second he handed me the paper towels I was on the floor cleaning up the mess I had made.

"I didn't mean it, I was just joking last night."

"Don't worry, I know you didn't mean it." he looked up to McGee, "Probie, down here cleaning, now!"

He got up from his desk quite fast, grabbing the paper towels and helping us with are slipshod cleaning job. With all three of us collaborating on cleaning it seemed to go faster than I had thought. But when Tony and McGee both stopped I looked up at them, "Come on, we're almost done."

They were both staring at something behind me, this cannot be good.

"Guys, I got the coffee and..." I heard Kate's voice behind me stop in mid sentence, definitely not good.

I slowly turn my head to find Gibbs standing right behind me staring at the mess on the floor. He quickly grabbed the coffee from Kate and walked around us to his desk, taking a large gulp of his coffee at the same time.

"Boss, she didn't mean to, it just kind of..." The ringing of Gibbs' phone stopped Tony.

"Gibbs," he answered, "Yes...or course...we're on it...bye."

"Grab your gear," he simply said as he stood up and walked back to elevator.

I guess I'm off the hook, for now.

A/N: Please review, pretty please!!!!!!!!!!!!!


	5. Properly Introduced

Title: Properly Introduced

Rating: K+

Summary: "I smiled back, that was the Tony I had gotten to know last night, the one I thought of as my father, not the quiet one that seemed to love uncomfortable silence."

Disclaimer: All that stuff in the first chapter.

A/N: I'm back! I didn't forget about this story, I just needed a good bit of motivation. I can't promise I'll be able to update every week, but I'm going to try the best I can. A big THANK YOU to Hellfire for helping me out! This has not been betaed, so all mistakes are mine.

To all reviewers: You have all been a big inspiration, and thank you all!

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"I don't think we were ever properly introduced," the younger of the agents stated as he put out hand towards me, "Timothy McGee."

I took his hand and smiled pleasantly, "April DiNozzo."

"Oh," his eyes opened a bit more and looked around me for a second to see Tony glaring at him, "Um, family of Tony?"

"My daughter, Probie." The way he said 'Probie' seemed to scare Tim, and he backed up to the wall of the elevator in retreat.

Only a few moments later the two shining metal doors swooshed open, a double ding echoing through the parking garage we were now in.

"DiNozzo!" called Gibbs as he walked out in front of everyone else.

"Yeah, Boss?" Tony walked out of the elevator behind and quickly followed.

"The girl can't go past yellow tape." He simply stated as we walked.

"I know, Boss. I was going to…" Tony was cut off as Gibbs looked back at me.

"You ok with staying in the car, it could take us a while?"

"That's ok," I answered hesitantly, I wasn't about to say something that upset him even more.

"Good, lets not have any accidents involving coffee this time."

I look over to Tony and he only shrugs his shoulders, just as stunned as I was.

"Shot gun!" Kate, if I remember her name right, called as she jogged past Tony and me to the dark blue Stratus, with Gibbs already getting into the drivers seat.

"I hate it when she does that." Tony mumbled under his breath as we made it to the car. He then moved in front of me and opened the back car door for me and then smiled as he motioned with his hand for me to get into the car, "Ladies first."

I smiled back, that was the Tony I had gotten to know last night, the one I thought of as my father, not the quiet one that seemed to love uncomfortable silence.

I slid into the car, moving all the way to the opposite side of the car. Tony quickly slid in after me; even though it seemed like he didn't want me to see him, I saw Tony glare at Tim as he blocked him from getting into the car next.

Kevin had never been protect of me, so I had never really known how it felt to be sheltered like only a father could do. It felt nice to know he was looking after me, even though I hated it that it happened to be taken out on Tim, but I still liked being cared for and maybe even loved for the first time by my father.


	6. Meeting Ducky

Title: Meeting Ducky.

Rating: K+

Summary: "'Eliminate all other factors, and the one which remains must be the truth.'"

Disclaimer: All that stuff in the first chapter.

A/N: This chapter fits with NCIS Special Ops fanfiction challenge 14 (just incase you wanted to know). This is the last chapter for a while. I'll be going for a nice long vacation with family for Christmas, so there will be no new chapters till next year (that sounds so long). Merry Christmas everyone, and a Happy New Year!

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The car swerved dangerously near the edge of the cliff.

This was my punishment, I just know it. I spilt his coffee and now he's going to kill me, me and everyone else in the car. I don't think I've ever thought about how easy it would be to die, all you need is Gibbs driving and a thin little mountain road, and I had them both. I'm looking ahead and just wondering which cliff we're going to drive off of. He makes another quick turn and I hold on to the bottom of the seat for my life.

"Hey boss, don't you think it would be a good idea to slow down a little, the roads up here in the mountains are little thinner and the snow is pretty bad." Tony told Gibbs as he drove down the road.

"Don't tell me how to drive DiNozzo, what do you think I'll drive off the cliff?" Gibbs asked as he made another sharp turn.

"Boss," came a hesitant voice from the other side of Tony in the back seat, "Are you sure you don't want one of us to drive?" Tim looked terrified as Gibbs once again made a hey-lets-go-off-the-edge-of-the-cliff turn.

"Wow, now that was a little to close." I said as I made sure my seatbelt was firmly buckled.

"You know Gibbs," said Kate from the front seat, "Maybe it wouldn't be a bad idea for one of us to drive."

He didn't say anything, just took his new cup of coffee and took a big sip. He wasn't looking at the road, and there was a dangerously tight turn not to far away.

This was it, the cliff that I'm going to die on. Kate had a death grip on the door, and Tim had an equally tight grip on the handle above his head beside the door. As for me and Tony, I had my nails permanently sunk into the bottom of the back seat and Tony was checking his seatbelt like I had a few moments before.

The car jerked quickly to the left

We're all still alive, I'm not missing any limbs, and the car is still on the road. I felt like screaming out 'Halleluiah!' but decided against it knowing it wouldn't be the best thing to do since Gibbs was still driving on a thin snowy little mountain road.

Plus I realized my worries were far from gone as Gibbs increased the speed of the car and made turn just as tight as the one before. Right now I was content with holding on to the seat for dear life and praying.

---------------

"We found her this morning, Sir. Once we saw her ID and found out she was Navy we called you guys." A police officer informed Gibbs as Tony and Kate followed him into the house, me following closely behind.

"April?"

"Yeah Tony?"

"You can't come in, you gonna have to wait in the car, it shouldn't take us to long."

"Ok," I reply simply.

I start to walk back to the car, looking at the big houses around the area. It was it's own little town up in the mountains, a little community all on its own in the Appalachins.

"Can I assist you in any way ma'am?" the question came from behind me, in a thick British accent.

"No," I answer as I turn around.

"You seem to be a little young to be a police officer," He says playfully as he walks up to me.

"Family of one of the NCIS agents."

"Oh, many I ask who?"

"Tony, Tony DiNozzo," I answer, finding that his jacket said 'NCIS Medical Examiner'.

"I wasn't aware that Anthony had a daughter," he said as he started to walk away.

"How did you know I was his daughter?" I ask in amazement that he knew how I was related to Tony.

"Tony doesn't have to many women in his family your age, no sisters, no nieces, and I've met his cousin before. Why, the author Conan Doyle states it best through his character Sherlock Holmes, 'Eliminate all other factors, and the one which remains must be the truth.'"

I laugh lightly at his knowledge of the Sherlock Holmes books. He was so sweet and polite that I couldn't help but smile as he left his previous path and walked over to me.

"Dr. Donald Mallard, you can call me Ducky," he put out his hand and I shook it.

"Duck! You comin'?" I heard agent Gibbs voice yell from the door of the house.

"Farewell my dear April, I shall look forward to talking with you again in the future."

"Good bye doctor Mallard…Um…I mean Ducky."

Ducky was very sweet, and the nicest member of Tony's that I had met. I walked the short distance back to the car and sat down in the back seat. I could already tell it was going to be a very long day. A nice day, maybe, but long nonetheless.

---------------

"I'm tired," I say as I try to stifle my fifth yawn in the last two minutes, but fail badly as my lunges force the air down through my mouth. I really didn't mean to complain, but it was eleven o'clock and it had been a very lengthy day.

It had been all work talk as we drove back to the NCIS building, blood tests this and murder suspects that, names and rankings, weapons and guns. It was like they were speaking another language to me, big words I wouldn't even try to remember let alone say, spell, or use in a sentence. It was digging up information on the victim after that, updates on blood samples, and going over crime scene statements.

"The husband had every chance to kill her," Kate said from her desk across from Tony's, "He had a way to get in and out of the house without signs of braking in, a knife from their own kitchen is the murder weapon, and we've yet to find out where he is."

"But where's the motive, Kate? Why would he kill his wife when they were happy, rich, and from what we can tell not cheating on each other? He had no reason to do it."

It had been going on like this for the whole day, Tony and Kate fighting over who was right and who was wrong.

"So he didn't do because he wanted money! There are so many reasons a guy would kill his wife, he's bound to have at least one."

"There's no strong evidence that tells us he did, Kate!"

Kate sighed and ran her hand over her forehead, "But that doesn't mean there's something we just haven't found yet."

"Would you two stop it!" Everyone in the room looked up to Gibbs as he yelled at Tony and Kate. "I don't care who murdered the Lieutenant, all I want to do is catch him." Gibbs then took a long sip of the coffee he had gotten a while ago. "Everybody go home, and come back prepared for the day," he got up out of his chair and started to walk to the elevator. "The last thing I need tomorrow is a aggravated teenager, a pissed dad cause his daughters mad, and Agents that can't conduct themselves as adults." He looked back at Tim right before he entered the elevator, "And be on time."

The second the doors shut Abby's cheery voice came bouncing through the almost empty room.

"His knee's bothering him."

"Hopefully it passes soon," Kate said as she pulled her purse out from under her desk, "Or we'll all be fired by the end of the week."

"What do you have, Abby?" Tim asked, I assumed he was talking about the papers in her hand.

"Oh, of course, I have the blood test results!"


End file.
